


The Snake and the Spider

by circleoffifths



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Based on what was in the Infinity War trailers, But a girl can hope, Friendship, Gen, Post-Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Probably not Infinity War complaint, Thor: Ragnarok (2017) Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-09
Updated: 2018-02-09
Packaged: 2019-03-15 11:38:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13612566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/circleoffifths/pseuds/circleoffifths
Summary: After escaping from the clutches of Thanos, Loki arrives alone on Earth to rally the Avengers. Along the way, he makes an unexpected ally.





	The Snake and the Spider

"Just a little further, please.”

The escape pod groaned in protest as Loki urged it towards the blue planet in the distance. His hands held onto the steering rod in a death grip, his knuckles bone white. He leaned forward, as if that physical action alone would coax the pod into behaving. Slowly but surely, he was reaching his destination, distancing himself from the destruction that he’d left behind.

After the unexpected appearance of Thanos and a grim instant when he had thought that his end was near, Loki had momentarily deceived Thanos with one of his illusions, buying him enough time to set off an explosion with the Grandmaster’s vessel and drive the flaming wreckage right into Thanos’ own massive spaceship. Using the ensuing panic and chaos as a distraction, Loki had hopped into the pod waiting for him, leaving the scorching heat behind as fast as he could.

There had been no time to check if the other Asgardians had escaped safely in their own rafts as planned. Once he was in his pod, Loki had harnessed the power of the Tesseract, enveloping himself with it to warp towards Midgard. Loki would just have to put his faith in the wisdom of Heimdall, and the strength of the Valkyrie and the Hulk to keep what was left of his people safe.

Thor, however - Loki had watched, helpless, as Thanos had grabbed Thor by the head when the foolhardy idiot had gone out on his own to challenge the Mad Titan. Thor hadn't stood a chance. From the vessel, Loki hadn’t been able to hear what Thor had been shouting when Thanos had held him, ragdoll-like, in his massive hand, but the fear that had crossed his brother’s face would forever haunt him. There was no hesitation, no remorse on the Mad Titan’s face as he had flung Thor out to space.

And now Loki was heading to Midgard to warn them of the impending threat, just as Thor would have wanted, and request for the assistance of the Avengers. Alone.

Dread curled in his chest and threatened to overwhelm him when he thought of returning to the planet that he had tried to conquer when his mind was not quite his own, when vindictive anger had dictated his actions. He had spent the past few years trying to forget, to let go of the hurt and the blinding fury. Midgard was the last place he wanted to return to. Unfortunately, it was the closest option he had, and he could not deny that the strength of the Avengers would be valuable in the upcoming fight against Thanos. If he could get to them and convince them to aid him, he might be able to get to Thor before he could be - before he was -

The rattling and creaking of his pod increased as it breached the atmosphere. Warning signs flashed across the control panel, and an incessant alarm blared out as the pod’s structural integrity was compromised. Loki could only hope against all hope that it would hold up, at least until he made it to the ground in one piece.

Once he was through the atmosphere, Loki slammed his palm against the controls, slowing down the ship into a hover before he ended up crashing onto the ground in an unflattering wreck. The engines sputtered and grated, but otherwise held the pod steady in the air. He gently steered the ship towards the ground, narrowly avoiding a piece of red and blue debris as it fell towards the ground.

Wait, was that a _man_?

A closer look showed that he was right. It was indeed a man, clad in skin-tight apparel and currently _very_ unconscious. His face was slack and he was free-falling at full speed, like a puppet with its strings cut.

Without thinking, Loki teleported himself out of his pod, grabbed the limp body and teleported back. Once back inside, he placed the mortal on the ground, unsure of what to do next. Was he dead? It was hard to tell, with these fragile creatures. He tried to remember what he could of their physiology, but the only recent frame of reference he had was Bruce Banner, which was of no help at all. He was fairly certain that the average Midgardian did not turn into a giant green rage monster when faced with the threat of death.

Before he could think of anything else, the man jolted awake, chest desperately heaving as he gulped for air. Loki blinked in surprise. He may not be familiar with Midgardians, but even so, this one looked barely of-age. Not a man, but a boy with gangly limbs that he had yet to grow into. Did Midgardians routinely let their young roam the skies without proper equipment? This realm was far more backward than Loki had remembered.

The boy whipped his head around in different directions, clearly disorientated. His terrified brown eyes held Loki’s, a question burning through them even as he tried to get his breathing under control. Loki took pity on him, sending a quick spell in his direction to relieve the pressure on his lungs.

Astonishment flickered through the boy’s expression as the magic washed over him and he was suddenly able to breathe. He lifted his arm and dragged himself off the ground and into the seat next to him, groaning in discomfort.

“Woah, did you do something? One minute I was hyperventilating, and then… wait, wasn’t I on that weird circle thing? What happened? Where am I?” The boy’s voice was high-pitched and excitable, words falling from his mouth as soon as he thought of them. His speech pattern reminded Loki of someone, someone else he had met on this realm years ago with no filter from his brain to his mouth, but he couldn’t quite recall _who_.

Instead of waiting for an answer from Loki, however, the boy tugged a red face mask that matched the rest of his costume over his head. “Karen, replay what I missed.”

The mask that the boy wore had two white patches over the eyes that widened as he presumably reviewed footage of the past few minutes, giving him a look of disbelief, even though his face was concealed.

“Mr Stark is going to want to hear all about this,” he breathed.

Ah, yes. He remembered now who this boy reminded him of. Once upon a time, another mortal had managed to briefly break through the veil of rage that had clouded his vision to bring forth genuine bewilderment on Loki’s part, through his incessant chatter and crude jokes. Loki had secretly admired his courage, and had thrown him out of the window with more than a twinge of regret, if only because good flyting opponents were hard to come by.

The boy ripped off his mask, and his expression was just as shocked as the one on his mask had been. “You saved me! Through… teleportation? I don’t know, the feed was a little shaky, but you just appeared out of nowhere! That’s awesome!”

Loki gave a brief nod, uncertain of how to react to his obvious enthusiasm. The mortal, however, did not give him a chance to speak.

“You dress a lot like Thor. Are you an Asgardian, too? Do you know Thor? Or the rest of the Avengers?”

“Yes,” he replied warily. Although this boy seemed harmless, he was reluctant to reveal his true identity, knowing his history with the realm.

“So you fought with the Avengers during the alien invasion all those years ago?”

“In a way,” was his elusive answer, but it seemed to satisfy his companion. Loki was incredulous that the boy didn’t seem to know who he was, but he supposed the boy would have been too young to remember the event when it happened. The Avengers have apparently also made an effort to conceal the identity of the harbinger of the invasion, for whatever reason, and Loki was immensely grateful for that. Better that the first person he met on this planet didn’t know.

"I can’t believe you’ve fought in that, and I’ve never heard of you!” A childish grin flashed across his face, and the hand holding his mask fidgeted awkwardly as his side, before stilling. “I guess there's no point hiding my identity now, since you've seen my face. And you're with the Avengers. I'm Peter Parker. The Spider-Man."

That explained the webbed motif on his costume, at least. Loki quirked an eyebrow at him. “Spider-Man? You’re hardly old enough to be that. A spiderling, perhaps.”

Peter’s brows furrowed at his comment, but he seemed unfazed that Loki had not offered his own name.

“So why were you all the way up here in the first place?” Loki asked.

“I was on my way to school, when this giant ring appeared in the sky. I thought I’d go to investigate, y’know, superhero and all, but then it started, like, spinning and rising, really fast! And then it got to the point where I couldn’t breathe, and I guess I must have passed out, or something, which is where you came in.” Peter looked at Loki seriously. “Thank you for that, by the way. Hey, how did you end up here, anyway?”

Loki settled down on the seat next to Peter, as it would be still some time before they reached the ground. As they continued to descent, Loki told Peter of the destruction of Asgard, their run-in with Thanos, Thor’s defeat, and his daring escape, while the boy listened with wide-eyed rapture. Loki told him of the impending threat that was coming for Midgard, about how the Mad Titan would not stop until all the worlds were ended in his quest to satisfy Lady Death. His voice trailed off as he contemplated their dire situation.

There was no stopping Thanos, that much Loki knew. What he had done to his ship was merely an inconvenience, a small blip in his plans. When Thanos returned for him, and he would, Loki knew he would be all the more severely punished for it. That is, if he was able to catch Loki at all. His lips pushed into a grimace as he ran through his plans again, starting with getting the Avengers to listen to him.

What was seemingly companionable silence to Loki was apparently too much quiet for the mortal.

“Is this ship one speed only? Seems quite strange for alien tech this advanced,” Peter commented, prodding at the control panel dubiously. “I’m sure we could make it go faster.”

“The engine took a beating while I was escaping Thanos, it would be best if we leave it be,” Loki replied, and that was that. Peter nodded, leaning back against the seat. He slid his hands underneath his thighs and bounced his feet, staring out of the windows.

A stretch of blessed silence, and then -

“Is that teleporting thing the only magic you can do? Could you show me more? 

Loki sighed. He knew what the burn of curiosity felt like, having experienced it all too often in his youth, to deny the boy. This spiderling also seemed to show genuine interest in his craft, which was something Loki had not encountered for eons. Holding out his hand, palm face up, he conjured flames, one of the first spells every mage was taught. Tongues of emerald green flames licked harmlessly along his fingers, a completely efficient conversion of energy into light. 

Gathering his concentration, he shaped the flames into a perfect sphere and allowed it to float above his palm. The spheres split into five smaller orbs, rotating around in a slow orbit.

Peter was looking at him with - there was really no other way to put it - awe in his eyes.

"That's so _cool_!” he exclaimed, bringing his face closer to Loki’s hand. He prodded at one of the spheres, watching as it bobbed and fell back into position. “Wow, how does that even - you're officially cooler than Thor. Wait, please don't tell Thor I thought he was cool?" Peter pleaded, a faint blush dusting his cheeks.

Loki stared at the young mortal, warmth suffusing him at the unexpected praise. He allowed himself a rueful grin. “Thor would be appalled that someone thought his brute strength was inferior to my ‘tricks’. 

Peter flashed him an easy smile. “So don’t tell him. Hey, are all Asgardians able to do magic? Are _humans_ able to do it? Ooh, could you teach me? I’ll be a good student, I promise, I learn really fast.”

He was about to reply when Odin’s words, unbidden, rose to his mind.

 _Wherever you go there is war, ruin, and death._  

First Jotunheim, then Midgard. Even Asgard had not been spared. Frigga, Odin, and Thor, all caught up in the chaos that he left in his wake. Destruction _did_ follow him, intentional or not, and he felt strangely compelled to keep this young mortal as far from it as possible.

A weariness settled deep in his bones. Peter had been nothing but painfully honest with him, his earnestness somehow endearing, like a misguided puppy. The least Loki could do was to grant him some honesty in return.

“I’m not a good man, spiderling, and not someone you should associate with. It would do you good if you remained with your Avengers.”

Peter glanced at him thoughtfully. For the first time since their acquaintance, he seemed to be considering his words.

“Most of us aren’t, either. Hell, half of the Avengers wouldn’t be considered good people based on their pasts alone. But they were given a second chance, and they changed. That’s what I believe in. Everyone deserves second chances.” The faraway look in his eyes suggested that he was thinking about some other event in his life. 

Loki was floored. If Thor had given him this speech, he would have scoffed in disgust and stabbed him. But coming from this boy, a complete stranger, it was somehow believable, and what Loki had needed to hear all along.

None of this was said out loud. He still had a reputation to maintain, and Thor, if - no, _when_ \- he heard of this, would never let Loki live this down. He cleared his throat, choosing not to reply and letting the gentle hum of the engines fill the silence instead.

As they neared the ground, he suddenly remembered what he was on Midgard for. Something Peter had said caught his attention. Loki glanced at the mortal from the corner of his eye, giving a thoughtful hum.

“Spiderling, you said that the Man of Iron was your acquaintance?” Loki asked. 

Peter’s eyes lit up at the mention of Iron Man. “Oh, yes! I was going to call him to tell him about the freaky ring in the sky, before, y’know, the whole not-enough-oxygen thing happened.”

Loki narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. It seemed too kind of the Norns to grant him such a coincidence, but a gift was a gift, and he was not about to question it. “Could you contact him to inform him of our arrival? I will have need of his and the other Avengers’ strength in the upcoming battle.”

Renewed hope sparked within him. Perhaps, with this strangely accepting spiderling at his side, the Avengers would grant him an audience long enough for him to explain the situation at hand. Maybe they would even spare him his life, but he didn’t plan on sticking around long enough to find out.

Peter turned to fully face him, a comically wide grin plastered across his face.

"Man, I can't _wait_ for the rest of the Avengers to meet you!"

 

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [this Twitter post](https://twitter.com/Iokified/status/960936298402922496). The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea of these two being unlikely friends, and we all probably need some heartwarming stuff before Infinity War drops all that angst on our heads.
> 
> So my HC is that after getting off the pod, Spidey would introduce Loki to what's left of the Avengers, and Loki would be like wth y'all are worse than I thought no wonder Thor said humans were petty I stabbed him so many times and we're still good and you guys broke up over like a piece of paper whut glad I didn't actually conquer y'all back then peace bros I'm out gonna find the grandmaster to help me instead. And then Thanos would get melted by the melt stick. And Loki can go back to his Dramatic Theatre (TM) and bathrobes and grapes. The end.
> 
> ...
> 
> Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it ❤


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